Judge McIntyre to preside at trial of Daley nephew

WOODSTOCK – A McHenry County juvenile court judge will preside over the involuntary manslaughter trial of former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley’s nephew.

Circuit Judge Maureen P. McIntyre was named Friday in an order signed by Chief Judge Michael J. Sullivan.

McIntyre was appointed to the bench in 1996 and is the presiding judge of the family division. She currently handles juvenile cases, including abuse and neglect, but has heard a variety of cases during her tenure.

In 2000, McIntyre was elected as a circuit judge in the 19th Judicial Circuit, which later split when McHenry County formed the 22nd Circuit. She was retained in 2006 and again in November.

Richard Vanecko, Daley’s nephew, was indicted last month in the 2004 death of David Koschman. He has pleaded not guilty.

Koschman died days after he fell and struck his head in a fight with Vanecko outside a bar in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood. Koschman was 5-foot-5 and 125 pounds; Vanecko, then 29, was 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds.

After a Cook County judge with ties to Daley stepped aside, Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans wrote that an outside judge was needed to avoid any “appearance of impropriety.”

The Illinois Supreme Court assigned the case to the 22nd Circuit, putting the decision about which judge would be assigned the case in Sullivan’s hands.

The request was for an out-of-circuit judge, not for a change of venue. McIntyre likely will travel outside of McHenry County for Vanecko’s court dates.

Sullivan has said the need for a judge from another circuit happens regularly between McHenry County and Lake and Kane counties, but a request from Cook County is more unusual.

The same special grand jury that indicted Vanecko also is investigating whether authorities covered up or impeded the investigation into Koschman’s death because of Vanecko’s relationship to the powerful Daley.